


high ho silver, away!

by punchbowls



Series: beat the devil (these are my friends) [3]
Category: IT (1990), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amputee Eddie Kaspbrak, Bill Denbrough & Eddie Kaspbrak Are Best Friends, Bill Denbrough is a Good Friend, Eddie Kaspbrak Lives, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Suicide Attempt, Suicide mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:21:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27129829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punchbowls/pseuds/punchbowls
Summary: Eddie got caught in the deadlights and Bill takes him for a ride on Silver to wake him up.
Relationships: Bill Denbrough & Eddie Kaspbrak, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: beat the devil (these are my friends) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1974877
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	high ho silver, away!

Before Silver, Georgie would ride on the back of Bill’s tricycle, and when Bill got his first bicycle Georgie found himself on the handlebars. Bill was always so careful whenever he carted Georgie around his bike. He was careful by himself too, of course, but after Georgie’s funeral and when he bought Silver, that all changed. Bill was reckless when he rode Silver. 

He was ‘Big Bill’ and the tallest of his friends, but Silver was still too big for him at eleven years old. Maybe Bill  _ tried  _ to go too fast and hard down the streets and hills of Derry, starting with wobbles as he tried to get the pedals and ending with speed wobbles as he sailed through the traffic. After Georgie died and his parents’ cold shoulders hurt to touch, maybe Bill tried a little too hard to be reckless. He even pushed the limits of life when his friends were sitting behind him, clutching him around the middle. 

It was something Bill felt awful about now as an adult, endangering his friends that way, as his child’s mind tried to cope with loss. But Silver had never let him down. Silver had never failed to keep him alive whenever Bill endangered himself. Every time Bill was ready to follow his brother and leap into Death’s welcoming arms, waiting for him in the cross traffic of Derry’s streets, Silver brushed past her like wind through the treetops. 

Grown ups would say that that big bike was too big for Big Bill and it’d kill him one day. But like most of whatever magic lived in Derry, the grown ups didn’t see it. They didn’t see that it was Silver keeping Bill, and sometimes his friends, alive. 

Silver had been Bill’s hero, when he needed the bike most. 

And Bill prayed Silver would be his hero again. 

They’d killed IT, and they’d all survived. Including Stan, who’d woken up from his suicide attempt the moment IT died. You’d think IT’s choking grasp on their lives was gone now, but it wasn’t. 

Eddie still had not woken up. 

Eddie, who had taken his aspirator and shot it at the monster. Eddie who was picked up between IT’s claws and whose body blocked the deadlights. Eddie, whose voice Bill heard as he came to, screaming in agony. Eddie, whose body fell limp to the ground with his eyes glazed over and an arm missing. Eddie, who nearly died, and whose body reminded him so much of Georgie’s the day his little brother came home from sailing his boat. 

Eddie wasn’t Georgie, he was his own person- his own man now- but he was every bit a brother to Bill and the sight of him made Bill want to scream and rip his own insides out. Bill did scream. Eddie went into surgery and Bill screamed until his throat was sore and his breath ragged and he could only slump in Ben’s arms as they sat in Richie’s closed convertible. 

When Eddie got out of surgery, and the doctors said his eyes never closed or showed any sign of anything, but he would be fine physically, Ben screamed some more. He wanted to bring that fucking clown back to life just so he could kill it again and again and again. For all his skill and talent for telling stories, he couldn’t find himself to voice this, or everything he felt, or why, but the other Losers understood. They let him scream. 

Bill found himself with Richie a lot as they waited on either side of Eddie’s hospital bed. Neither of them said much unless they were including Eddie in the conversation, hoping he would respond. It was strange to the both of them, the other being so silent, but speech and words weren’t needed. 

Doctors and nurses checked Eddie’s injury until it wasn’t an injury anymore and over the following weeks, Eddie physically healed up perfectly. Psychiatric doctors also came to team up with the others, but no one could figure out why Eddie wouldn’t respond to anything. Mike insisted that they bring him to his house, so they did. 

Stan came and there was hardly a moment that they weren’t all there together with Eddie. They caught up on each other’s lives, talked about the future, and they made fun of Richie and Stan’s matching mustaches. Of course, Eddie was included in all of these conversations, but he never replied. 

* * *

One morning, when the first rays of sunlight poked through the crack in the curtains, Bill got an idea. Neither Richie or Mike were awake yet, and the others were still at the townhouse. Bill silently pushed the door open to Eddie’s room and found Richie on the floor again. 

“Richie,” Bill said gently, squatting down next to him.

Richie snorted lightly and blinked his eyes open. “Bill?” he asked, rubbing them.

“C’mon, pal, let’s get you to a real bed. I’ll make sure he’s okay.”

Richie nodded and let Bill help him up and guide him to the other bedroom where he collapsed onto the bed. Once Richie was situated, Bill returned to Eddie’s room. 

“Good morning, Eddie,” Bill whispered, “How about we go for a bike ride?”

Once they got to the top of the biggest hill in Derry, Bill made sure Eddie was safe- safe as he could be- in front of him on Silver, and pulled his remaining arm over his shoulders. 

“Remember when we did this as kids, Eddie?” Bill asked. “You would be so terrified, but you’d always want to do it again.”

A small, breathless laugh escaped from Bill’s mouth as he remembered. 

“Let’s do it again, huh?”

Bill pushed forward and found the pedals with his feet. He pedaled, even as they took on speed, remembering the ride he’d taken so many times as a child. Cars whizzed by and honked as they sailed down the street.

“Come on, Eddie,” Bill said into Eddie’s ear, over the whistling wind, “Fight IT, fight IT.  _ Fight IT _ .”

They were halfway down the hill when Bill felt fingers grip his shoulder and Eddie’s body go rigid between his arms, and heard Eddie gasp. 

“Bill?” he asked, voice high and sharp and Bill grinned.

“It’s ok, Eddie, it’s okay,” Bill told him.

He wanted to shout ‘HIGH HO SILVER, AWAY!” but Eddie’s fingers dug tight into his shoulder and he buried his face into Bill's neck, so he steered Silver into the grass when they reached the end of the hill and skidded to a halt. 

“Bill?” Eddie gasped when they stopped, “Where- Bill,  _ IT- my arm _ -!”

Bill wrapped his own arms around Eddie and pulled him tight against his chest. Eddie’s shoulders shook between them, and his hand gripped Bill’s shirt between his fingers. 

“ _ Bill _ ,” Eddie sobbed. It sounded like he wanted to say more, but Bill’s name was the only thing able to come out. 

“IT’s dead,” Bill said into Eddie’s hair. 

“Richie- the others-?”

“They’re  _ all  _ alive,” Bill assured him. He wanted to mention Stan specifically, but thought better of it in the moment. One thing to process at a time. 

“ _My arm?”_ Eddie asked. His voice was quieter and even more broken this time and Bill held him a little tighter.

“I’m sorry, Eddie,” he whispered. 

Bill could feel the tears soak through his shirt as Eddie shook in his arms. Eddie pulled back after a few moments, and although there was still tears falling from his eyes, he managed to give Bill a little grin. 

“You mean, I did the mashed potatoes all over IT,” Eddie hiccuped and shuddered, but held his smile, “And I didn’t even have an arm?”

Bill let out a teary laugh of his own and Eddie ducked into his arms again so they could hold each other tight. 

“You sure did, Eddie.”

**Author's Note:**

> i've been sobbing about them all day <3


End file.
